Scalise: GOP ‘moving a lot closer’ to immigration deal

House Majority Whip Steve Scalise expressed cautious optimism Tuesday that GOP leadership, moderates and conservatives could reach an immigration deal and put an end to a weeks-long intra-party impasse.

“We are trying to get to an agreement on a bill that we can bring forward that can get 218 votes,” the Louisiana Republican told POLITICO Playbook’s Anna Palmer and Jake Sherman in an interview. “We’re not there yet, but I think we’re moving a lot closer. And in exchange we would also make sure there would be no discharge petition.”

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A discharge petition led by a group of centrist Republicans is three signatures shy of the 218 needed to force a series of votes on immigration bills. If lawmakers hit their mark later Tuesday — moderates’ latest self-imposed deadline — the House will take up the bills at the end of the month.

House GOP leaders are eager to avoid a rebellion on the floor and are heartened after picking off Florida Republican Dennis Ross on Monday. Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and Scalise both had discussions with Ross, who decided against adding his signature after leadership committed to holding a vote on a guest worker program before the August recess.

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Immigration is perhaps the most divisive issue the Republican Party faces today. A group of roughly two dozen centrist Republicans fear failure to try to shield from deportation undocumented immigrants who came into the U.S. illegally as children could cost them their seats in what’s shaping up to a be tough election year for the GOP. But Republican leaders worry a successful vote on a bipartisan immigration bill will upset their base and cost them something far greater: their House majority.

Votes that would emerge from a discharge petition would range from a conservative bill led by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) to the Dream Act. President Donald Trump rescinded the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program last year, but it’s been upheld by the courts.

Scalise, a supporter of the Goodlatte bill, warned that passage of the Dream Act in a Republican-controlled House would be “devastating” for the party.

GOP leaders believe stopping that DACA vote from reaching the floor could save Republicans from losing control of the chamber at the ballot box in November. And, after passage of tax cuts late last year and broad economic gains, Scalise is confident “we will keep the majority.”

“We will not let [Nancy Pelosi] become speaker and raise your taxes,” Scalise said. “We’re gonna keep taxes low. In fact, we wanna make these tax cuts permanent because they’ve been so effective at helping our economy and helping rebuild our middle class.”

Scalise also insisted Republicans are more prepared to fend off a wave than Democrats were in stopping one in 2010. He said Trump will be helpful in raising money for races Scalise predicts will cost both sides millions of dollars to win.

“Each member knows what’s ahead of them,” he said. “Unlike 2010, when we took the House back, there were a lot of Democrats who didn’t even think they had a race until maybe a week before the election and then they lost. Our members in those swing districts, and even if you’re beyond a swing district, they know that you better be ready this cycle for what’s coming.”

What isn’t coming for Scalise, he says, is a challenge to McCarthy to succeed Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) as speaker or a run for Louisiana governor.

Scalise nearly died last June after being shot during a Republican congressional baseball practice. His road to recovery has included nine surgeries, “lots of miracles” and countless prayers, he said. And after initial fears that he may never return to Capitol Hill or even be able to walk again, he said he’s happy representing his southeast Louisiana district and whipping votes.

“Obviously there’s life after Congress, but for whatever brief moment in time we get to do these jobs, it’s an honor to be able to represent people throughout the country in Congress,” Scalise said. “I look at the Capitol dome every night I’m leaving and it’s a moment where you still pinch yourself. I love doing this job, and there’ll be a day when I don’t get to do it so while I’m here I wanna make every minute count.”